Packaging nitrogen-containing explosives



PACKAGING NITROGEN-CONTAININ G EXPLOSIVES William Whitehead, Forest Hills, N. Y., assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application January 8, 1952, Serial No. 265,529

1 Claim. (Cl. 102-97) This invention relates to packaging and is more particularly concerned with the packaging of nitrogen-containing explosives in a wrap of cellulosic textile materials.

For many applications, nitrogen-containing explosives, such as smokeless powder and the like, are packaged in a bag or other wrap of cellulosic textile materials. To be satisfactory, these wraps should possess sufiicient strength to permit the explosive-containing packages to be handled without the danger of tearing or the like. While there is no special problem in producing a cellulosic textile material which will have sufiicient strength initially to provide a satisfactory wrap for the explosives, it has been found that the cellulosic textile materials tend to deteriorate quite rapidly and lose strength during storage, particularly when the storage takes place at relatively high ambient temperatures. To compensate for the deterioration and loss of strength of the cellulosic textile materials during storage, it has been the practice to employ wraps of cellulosic textile materials having initially a strength greatly in excess of that necessitated by the weight of the explosives contained therein, so that the wrap will retain sufficient strength to permit the explosive-containing package to be handled, even after a long period of storage. The necessity for employing as wraps cellulosic textile materials having initially excess strength, greatly increases the bulk and cost of the said wraps. Moreover, it fails to solve the problem of the wraps completely, in that deterioration of the cellulosic textile materials continues and will eventually reduce the strength of the said materials below a safe limit if the period of storage is of suflicient duration or if the conditions of storage are sufficiently severe.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a wrap of cellulosic textile material for the packaging of nitrogen-containing explosives which will be free from the foregoing and other difliculties.

A further object of this invention is to provide a wrap of cellulosic textile material for the packaging of nitrogen-containing explosives which will retain the major portion of its strength even after extended periods of storage.

Other objects of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and claim.

It has been found that the deterioration and loss of strength during storage of cellulosic textile materials serving as wraps for nitrogen-containing explosives appears to be due, in large part, to the liberation of oxides of nitrogen from the said nitrogen-containing explosives. 'Ihese oxides of nitrogen are apparently given ofi continuously from the nitrogen-containing explosives during storage and will cause the Wrap of cellulosic textile material to deteriorate and lose strength through oxidation of the said material or by some other, as yet unexplained, mechamsm.

It has now been discovered that the deterioration and loss of strength during storage of cellulosic textile materials serving as wraps for nitrogen-containing explosives may be greatly minimized by applying to the said textile materials organic compounds that are capable of react- "ice ing with nitrogen oxides to form nitroso compounds or to form nitrite salts or both. The most useful compounds lying within this class are organic bases and more specifically organic nitrogen-containing bases. To obtain protection against deterioration and loss of strength over extended periods of time, the organic compounds applied to the cellulosic textile materials should be water-insoluble and nonvolatile, although water-soluble and/ or volatile compounds may be employed where protection is desired for only a limited period of time or Where the storage conditions are such that no loss of the organic compound will take place through contact with water or the like.

Among the compounds that may be applied to the cellulosic textile materials there may be mentioned, for example, thiethanolamine, dibenzylamine, dibenzylethylene diamine, tetrabenzylmethylene diamine, tetrabenzylethylene diamine, diethylaminoethyl phthalate, a-diethylaminoacetanilide, N-N'-diphenylacetamicline, N,N-diphenylformamidine, 2,4,5-triphenyl imadazoline, N,N'-diphenylethylene diamine, N,N-di(2,6-dimethyl) phenylethylene diamine, N,N-diphenylpiperazine, aniline, urea, thiourea, N-allyl urea, N-allyl thiourea, s-diphenyl thiourea, s-diphenyl guanidine, 2-hexyl pyridine, ethyl anthranilate, benzoyl acetonitrile, diethyl malonate, diphenyl methane, a-benzilmonoxime .and di-t-butyl-p-cresol. The compounds may be applied to the cellulosic textile materials in amounts ranging from about 0.5 to 10.0% by weight based on the weight of the materials, although smaller or larger amounts may, in certain special cases, be desirable. Any of the known techniques may be employed for applying the aforementioned organic compounds to the cellulosic textile materials. For example, the organic compounds may be applied to the cellulosic textile materials from solution in a suitable solvent or they may be applied to the cellulosic textile materials by padding the said materials with an aqueous emulsion of the compounds.

An accelerated test that may be employed to determine the efficiency with which any organic compound will act on a given cellulosic textile material may be carried out by exposing a sample of the said textile material, to which the compound has been applied, to an atmosphere rich in nitrogen oxides at an elevated temperature and determining the loss in strength caused by such exposure. Apparatus suitable for conducting such a test is that specified in Tentative Test Method 23-46 of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) and is described on pages 88 to 90 of the 1950 Technical Manual and Year Book of the AATCC (vol. XXVI).

Cellulosic textile materials suitable as wraps for nitrogen-containing explosives that may be kept for deterioration and loss of strength in accordance with this invention include, for example, those having a basis of yarns of cotton, linen or regenerated cellulose. Another cellulosic textile material, that may be kept from deterioration in accordance with the process of this invention and that is eminently suited for use as a wrap for nitrogen-containing explosives, is that having a basis of high-tenacity regenerated cellulose yarn produced by the saponification of stretched organic derivative of cellulose yarn, hereinafter referred to as high-tenacity regenerated cellulose yarn. This material not only has an exceptionally high initial strength, but also possesses outstanding dimensional stability so that it may be easily fabricated into wraps of any desired shape and will retain its shape and that of the completed package even during rough handling. In addition, because demineralized water is normally employed in the manufacture of high-tenacity regenerated cellulose yarn, it has a very low ash and its after glow is comparatively small, which is an important element in making it suitable for use in the manufacture of wraps for nitrogen-containing explosives.

"J a The following example is given to illustrate this invention further.

Example A textile material woven from 30 denier, 40 filament high tenacity regenerated cellulose yarns in aplai'n' weave having 112 ends per inch in both warp and weft is passed through a 3.5% by Weight solution of diphenyl ethylene diamine, containing about 1% of dimethyl toluidine as a melting point depressant, in xylene containing 3% by Weight of Turkey red oil as a dispersing agent. After drying, the textile material is found to have picked up 3.5% by weight of the diphenyl ethylene 'diamine. Strips of the treated fabric are exposed at a temperature of 146 F. for periods of 10 days and 20 'days in the A. A. T. C. C. test apparatus referred to above together with strips of untreated fabric. At the, end of the 10-day test period, theuntreated fabric is found to have suffered a. loss of 24% in tenacity and 25% in elongation in the 2,770,1 5 I A a the lossin tenacity and elongation in the weft are comparable. Actual storage tests on powder bags containing smokeless powder show a like improvement in comparing the untreated and the treated fabrics.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the'spirit of my invention;

Having described my invention, What I desire to secure by Letters Patent is: V V V A package comprising a nitrogen-containing explosive in a wrap of a high-tenacity regenerated cellulose textile material which carries as an inhibitor of deterioration, due to liberation of nitrogen oxides from said explosive and due to contact with water, 3.5%, based on the weight of the textile material, of v diphenyl ethylene V diamine.

is comparable to extremely long storage periods, the un- ,7

treated fabric is found to have suffered a loss of 63% References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 24, 1945 

